Two of the suits had been filed against slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who had claimed in a blog post that a company owned by one of the two daughters of Azerbaijan ruler Ilham Aliyev, had transferred very large sums of money, described as “loan payments”, to secret companies Hearnville Inc, Tillgate Inc and Egrant Inc.

The transfers had allegedly been made by Al Sahra FZCO, a company owned by Leyla Aliyeva incorporated in Dubai’s free zone, with Ms Aliyeva as the ultimate beneficial owner, the blog post had claimed.

The payments were made through Al Sahra FZCO’s account at Pilatus Bank, Ms Caruana Galizia had alleged.